


Colored In Flames

by astronomical_ly



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Harry Potter, Character Study, Child Neglect, Drabble, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Introspection, Morally Grey Harry Potter, Out of Character, POV Petunia Evans Dursley, Petunia Evans Dursley-centric, Red-Haired Harry Potter, Self-Indulgent, Slytherin Harry Potter, but only sometimes, neglect is still abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28298715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astronomical_ly/pseuds/astronomical_ly
Summary: In one world, he looks exactly like his father.In another, Harrison Potter has hair like fire and eyes the color of the killing curse.This changes everything.or; What would have happened if Harry Potter had red hair and a slightly more decent childhood.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 253





	Colored In Flames

**Author's Note:**

> so i realize that i said this was going to be a retelling of the series but i take that back - sorry 
> 
> instead of that, this will be a drabble.  
> i sort of lost all inspiration for this au, so i'm keeping it the way it is -
> 
> again, i'm super sorry - just i don't really have the patience to rewrite the ENTIRE series, or rework it somehow into a longer one-shot.
> 
> hope you guys understand <3

Harrison Potter has black hair and green eyes.

This is known - it is a known fact just like it is known that his father's name was James Potter, and his mothers' was Lily; just like it is known that skies are blue and the grass is green.

When Harrison Potter is targeted by the Dark Lord Voldemort, the only survivor from that night of October 31st, 1981, peeking out of his small knitted hat is a tuft of messy black hair, a forehead bearing a lightning scar, and green eyes hidden underneath closed eyelids.

When Petunia Dursley opens her door in the middle of the night to find her one-year-old nephew on her doorstep and screams, consequently waking up half of the neighborhood, Harrison Potter's hair is still black and his eyes are still green.

By the time Harrison Potter is two years old, small and sickly, arms covered in fresh bruises, his hair begins to lighten, the messy black now a messy brown. Petunia Dursley looks at her nephew with fearful eyes and prays to God that it stays that way.

By the time Harrison Potter is four, shy and meek, shirts falling to his knees, his brown hair has lightened to a dark blonde. Petunia follows the changes in her nephew with narrowed eyes, and prays and prays and _prays_ that this doesn't mean what she thinks it does.

When Harrison Potter turns six, his blonde hair begins to darken again - only this time, they darken, and he bears messy, strawberry blonde curls. The first time Petunia Dursley sees the new hair, she closes her eyes against a sudden wave of vertigo and stumbles backward, one hand tightly gripping a chair. Not for the first time, she prays and _prays_ , for the changing to stop there, but doesn't sound nearly as sure as she did a year ago.

When Harrison Potter is just shy of seven, his strawberry blonde curls turn darker until they're the color of copper. Petunia looks on and turns her face in the other direction. Harrison's meals start coming more frequently after that, and he is moved to Dudley's second bedroom. No matter how hard and loud of a fuss Dudley makes over it, Petunia does not budge in regard to her decision.

When Harrison Potter turns eight years old, he's dangly, not all skin and bones, not as plumped up as his whale of a cousin, but at a respectable height for a child of his age. He still carries scars and bruises like a piece of artwork on his skin, but they're old and purpling and yellow - he knows that he has not been hit or screamed at since his hair turned red. (He knows, but pretends not to.)

By the time Harrison Potter turns nine, he has eyes the color of unpolished emeralds, eyes that glow with an unearthly look, eyes that somehow look both more haunting and beautiful than the ones Petunia's sister once wore, and curly locks of hair somewhere between light-auburn and ruby; soft, curly hair that looks like tongues of flame. 

Petunia forces Harrison to wear a hat on his head all the time and never tells him why (though he knows why - to hide his hair). 

Sometimes, when Petunia looks up suddenly, eyes catching onto the lonely lines of her nephew, all she can see are the last remnants of Lily. All she can see is Lily's face and Lily's eyes staring up at her from Lily's curly mop of red hair.

Petunia looks at him, her dead sister's child, the child with Lily's face and Lily's hair and Lily's eyes - and fears.

In one world, Harry Potter has his father's looks and hair and bears his mother's green eyes. 

In another, he is his mother's miniature, from the color and type of hair to the shape and color of her eyes.

In another world - in this world - Harrison Potter has hair like fire and eyes the color of the killing curse.

This changes everything.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on my tumblr: [@astronomicall-y](https://astronomicall-y.tumblr.com/)  
> or my twitter: [@astronomicall_y](https://twitter.com/astronomicall_y)  
> link to my discord server if you wanna come and chat: [astronomically idiotic](https://discord.gg/MTYBm5Y7)


End file.
